It's all about control!
Why the push for Autonomous driving?
- Thread starter loneryder
- Start date
If people STOPPED PLAYING on their phones and with all the electronic gadgets that come on all these over priced vehicles these days ,there would be way less problems.
I'll note that the implementation of the fully autonomous taxis in SF has been far from seamless and I look for them to be sidelined before the end of this year.
Lots of problems with tech not yet ready for prime time and most people won't pay for the development costs of others with their time and money.
The pushback on these autonomous taxis has already become significant.
Lots of problems with tech not yet ready for prime time and most people won't pay for the development costs of others with their time and money.
The pushback on these autonomous taxis has already become significant.
Here's my take on the reasons:
1) People love to spend money on toys. If it is not towing capacity it is infotainment, and what's more cool than "self driving"?
2) It has the potential to reduce accident so it is cheaper insurance wise, and people are willing to pay more even if it will never recoup the investment. We have seen that in a lot of gadgets and home improvement already.
3) It can potentially save money in commercial trucking, by hiring fewer drivers or no drivers on certain routes
4) Interest rate was cheap so what's there to do with the cheap money? R&D for a potential tech you can use to boost your company's stock price
5) If it works, it can make long commute tolerable, and people can sleep in the car during commute.
6) People will still own their own self driving cars. Just ask any parent with children, nobody wants to pack and unpack a lot of stuff everytime they get in and out of a rental, and nobody wants to pay someone clean up their own messy car after they get out of it. They will be around.
7) People wants to pick up and drop off their kids without having to take time off work if possible, or hire someone to drive their kids around
8) People don't like to pay for parking can ask their cars to park far away and call it back when they want to.
9) Bus can be more frequent and smaller if they don't need a driver. Instead of a bus every 30 mins you can have a van every 15 mins or a car every 10 mins, if they are self driving.
1) People love to spend money on toys. If it is not towing capacity it is infotainment, and what's more cool than "self driving"?
2) It has the potential to reduce accident so it is cheaper insurance wise, and people are willing to pay more even if it will never recoup the investment. We have seen that in a lot of gadgets and home improvement already.
3) It can potentially save money in commercial trucking, by hiring fewer drivers or no drivers on certain routes
4) Interest rate was cheap so what's there to do with the cheap money? R&D for a potential tech you can use to boost your company's stock price
5) If it works, it can make long commute tolerable, and people can sleep in the car during commute.
6) People will still own their own self driving cars. Just ask any parent with children, nobody wants to pack and unpack a lot of stuff everytime they get in and out of a rental, and nobody wants to pay someone clean up their own messy car after they get out of it. They will be around.
7) People wants to pick up and drop off their kids without having to take time off work if possible, or hire someone to drive their kids around
8) People don't like to pay for parking can ask their cars to park far away and call it back when they want to.
9) Bus can be more frequent and smaller if they don't need a driver. Instead of a bus every 30 mins you can have a van every 15 mins or a car every 10 mins, if they are self driving.
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I'm not sure how familiar you are with those Cruise, Waymo self driving cars in SF. I think I typically see 5 of them along a 5 mile drive whenever I visit, they work pretty well in a normal day, but with all the druggies going off and the haters go out there to sabotage things, I don't know if we will ever get a perfect self driving car in SF. I mean you can call the police if a human harrass you when you are driving but I don't think they would help you if it get your self driving car stuck in the intersection.
There are some roads perfect for self driving, but then there're also some never suitable.
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Eventually, self driving cars would require yet again some infrastructure changes to make them work better, like cars make roads and traffic laws change. We would likely see some dedicated lane markers and right of way rule changed to make self driving cars work better.
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Yeah, that's not gonna happen.
Older cars rule.
Kudos to those that see the push to take away "ownership" (you will own nothing, etc.. you will not own or be able to use the car unless you do it how "they" say..) combined with continued pushes to "change" how basic things work/are done.
Just no.
Nick1994
$100 site donor 2024
Autonomous driving is entertainment, plain and simple. I had a Tesla Model 3 and its autopilot was pure entertainment. It was fun.
My Genesis just has radar cruise control and lane keep assist, it'll take a little bit of a curve and keep itself going for a little bit. It's entertaining while driving to let go and let it keep it steady.
My Genesis just has radar cruise control and lane keep assist, it'll take a little bit of a curve and keep itself going for a little bit. It's entertaining while driving to let go and let it keep it steady.
I've spent many years operating programed robots in the past, they are not flawless. In the old days "early 80's" when we had problems with them the service department was thinking sun spots could have caused some of the unexplainable failures.
I remember a machine crash one time that was caused by a small metal chip that some how was allowed to enter the electronics cabinet and bridged a switch. How and why and at the time I was the lucky one.
Just like occasionally when any computer can funk out for an unknown reason or a near by lightning strike, and then needs a complete shut down or reboot, this can happen to the most expensive new robotic industrial machines, been there done that.
I don't trust any electronic device.
Autonomous cars and trucks? There have been cases of normal over computerized cars becoming autonomous and running away,
and can be especially bad with ones where every system is run through a computer of some sort, and the driver controls are in essence just joy sticks for the game controller.
I remember a machine crash one time that was caused by a small metal chip that some how was allowed to enter the electronics cabinet and bridged a switch. How and why and at the time I was the lucky one.
Just like occasionally when any computer can funk out for an unknown reason or a near by lightning strike, and then needs a complete shut down or reboot, this can happen to the most expensive new robotic industrial machines, been there done that.
I don't trust any electronic device.
Autonomous cars and trucks? There have been cases of normal over computerized cars becoming autonomous and running away,
and can be especially bad with ones where every system is run through a computer of some sort, and the driver controls are in essence just joy sticks for the game controller.
That would still stand for this. There's no provision for the car to be considered the operator until it can be licensed full autonomous and the manufacturer is legally responsible. Most systems as they stand in current cars with current sensors would never be able to achieve this and I would bet these companies are not in a hurry to take legal responsibility.
IMO, ultimately the whole reason for these vehicles is the complete lack of infrastructure for mass transit in most areas of the US.
After traveling to Europe, Asia, and other parts of NA, it is obvious that we, as a country, decided long ago that we wanted individual freedom of movement as opposed to mass transit - not to mention we have much larger swathes of land to develop.
As it stands now, we really have no choice but to develop these technologies until something better comes along.
After traveling to Europe, Asia, and other parts of NA, it is obvious that we, as a country, decided long ago that we wanted individual freedom of movement as opposed to mass transit - not to mention we have much larger swathes of land to develop.
As it stands now, we really have no choice but to develop these technologies until something better comes along.
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I would agree with this. We are so unlike Europe.. we have our own very large land mass, as one country. Most will be familiar with the contiguous 48 States; then there is Alaska and Hawaii. You hit on it perfectly.. Freedom of movement! You will get some Die Hards like me that would like nothing more than to jump in a car, and just go go go to your destination. Some may fly, some may use the rail but. From sea to shining sea!!
We are NOT EUROPE!!!
Autonomous driving, except on maybe some closed course or community built 100% with it in mind, makes about as much sense to me as EVs, which (again) work where someone basically uses the car in some kind of small radius. And even that just trades one energy supply needed for another energy supply needed, all the same problems.. this living in The Jetsons society push has to stop.
“individual freedom” has less to do with it than the fact that mass transit outside of megacities makes zero financial sense to any party involved. Just take a gander at CA’s high speed trail (yes, trail, since all that’s there is a railbed) that is already 500% over budget and not one customer served. By the time any of it is operational, a ticket will be so exorbitantly priced that the only people who can afford it don’t need a train because they own a private jet, or a Rolls with a chauffeur.
Most people already don't know what to do with a clutch pedal
And how am I supposed to get my self driving car to take the back way through a ditch instead of the long way with 12 stop signs? And what if I live on a dirt road? Will the car avoid the mud hole (and drive through the grass) or get stuck in it? And what if I want to tow a trailer or pull a bush out of my yard or take the scenic route and add 3 days to my journey? Will the self driving car be smart enough to not stop at gas/charging stations where the druggies hang out? I think I'll keep my old cars with CD players and no driving aids
I'd think one would be able to override the autonomous functions.
How will the car drive itself on roads that haven’t been mapped by Google Earth yet?
Magyk
So you drive a car with points and a carb? In theory any car with just abs could just randomly lock the drivers side front wheel and pull you into on coming traffic if you aren't paying attention... And ones with self steering could just turn the wheel... Probably has happened once or twice too!
The run away toyota camry issue years ago was traced to bad programming and therefore vulnerability to a single bit flip in the ECU to cause the car to go WO. I would hope now that bit flip vulnerability is checked as part of the software QC? I'm sure Toyota does at least!
I do agree that actual mechanically connected controls should be mandatory for the driver to take over if needed.
I think initially, autonomous highway driving is the easiest to implement due to a simpler environment, stuff like navigating my driveway in winter after 6" of snow has fallen, probably isn't going to work out everytime with a computer at the helm....
